SAM HAMMER

Over the winter, Hammer had been living on the North Shore of Oahu in a small house at Pipe. It’s his third season, and I’ve been back and forth from the mainland three times since he first arrived in the beginning of winter. This time, Sam has charged bigger than ever. He seems to have overcome his fear of the bigger stuff and graduated into surfing Pipe and Backdoor even on the largest days. Today the winds are up, strong 30 MPH trades, and the swell is too big for most of the North Shore spots. Sam and I were driving away from the North Shore and heading into Town to run some errands. He needed to pick up some new boards at Fed Ex, and I needed to pick up some film. We both wanted to load up on the food supplies at Costco, so we boarded our rental van and started rapping. Unfortunately, the day before we talked, a fellow surfer, Travis Musselman, had died surfing giant Pipeline, and that’s how we began the conversation.

ESM: This has been kind of hard on everyone, huh Sam?
SH: I feel like shit. We’re losing someone from within the surfing community. What really trips me out is that if I had my 7’10,” I think I would have been out there. I was saying that to myself when they were looking for him. It could have been any of us, and that’s just weird to think about.


ESM: How big was it?
SH: It was 8-12 feet and ledging–the biggest barrels I’ve ever seen. It was huge, really huge–just ridiculous. When it happened, it really made me realize how fragile we are. By putting ourselves in situations like that and charging, you get the ultimate thrill-barrels, but at the same time, something freaky can happen and bring us all back to reality.

ESM: When I was here in late February, you were still staying away from Pipe and Backdoor, so how is it that you moved up to become so comfortable at Backdoor?
SH: Larry McGinn, a bodyboarder from where I live, has been getting me out in bigger and bigger surf. Once you went home, I started surfing at Off the Wall. One day when I was out, I saw a really sick wave come through at Pipe, so I paddled over there and got a pretty good one. It was at Backdoor, at least 3-4 feet (Hawaiian size)–a pretty fun barrel. From there on out, I was pretty much hooked. Rocky’s is fun, and there are other spots that are great for ripping, but I’m looking to get barreled.


ESM: What pushed you so far this time?
SH: Matt Kechele was out this one day, and he hooted me into solid six-foot Pipe. After that, I wanted to surf Pipe every time I went out. I want to surf bigger and better waves. I used to be scared to go out there, and I’m still scared, but I really want to get barreled.


ESM: And what’s this I hear about the wave of your life at Backdoor?
SH: [Laughs] I got a small wave that same day with Kech, and meanwhile, a set came through as I was paddling back out through Backdoor. Everyone went either left or right–it was a perfect peak. Now everybody was inside, and I was out there alone. All of sudden this wave just popped up out of nowhere, and it was a big one. Kechele was telling me to go, and I heard him yelling, so I went, and it turned out to be the sickest barrel of my life.


ESM: He pushed you to go for it?
SH: It’s cool surfing with someone you look up to. You need that push to go further. If Kechele hadn’t been yelling, I probably wouldn’t have gone for it. Well, maybe I would have, but would I have caught it?


ESM: Who else motivates you to go bigger or try harder?
SH: Really, everyone I surf with pushes me because I like to catch a ton of waves, and the only way to get them is to go deeper than everybody else. But at home, I'd have to say my friend Larry pushes me the most. If there's one person I want to see me go over the falls while trying for a bomb, it would definitely be him. When he's out, I try harder.

ESM: How about the quiver? How’s it withstanding the punishment of all these barrels?
SH: I’ve broken 9 boards in just one month of surfing on the North Shore. Fortunately, my shaper, Dan Taylor, understands.


ESM: Does he like the fact you’re breaking his boards and bank account?
SH: Not really, but he knows what it’s like over here because he lived here. However, he doesn’t look Hawaiian to me [laughs]. His boards are insane, and every one works better than the others. It seems the more we work together, the better the boards get. Everybody over there is super cool to work with except the team manager, Joe Bard, he's nothing but trouble. Just kidding Joe–he's super cool too.


ESM: What’s life like back in New Jersey?
SH: I love being home. You get to surf with your friends, and you see so many familiar faces. Plus, I don’t have to wait to catch good waves. The parties are fun in the summer when all the tourists come. You meet a new girl at every party and string them along for a few months, then you meet another one. There’s only 2000 people there in the winter, so you don’t have to deal with anybody. With a population of 60,000 in the summer, you get your two months of sheer craziness, but the rest of the time, it’s pretty quiet. Honestly, you could walk down the street naked, and nobody would see you.

ESM: Naked on the streets?
SH: Trust me [laughing hysterically], there was this one night my friends and I were drinking in my hot tub, and it was freezing out. There was snow on the ground, and we ran up to the beach and jumped in the ocean. Then we all ran back naked to the hot tub, and whoever was last had to do a snow angel... but don’t put the naked part in there, alright?


ESM: Don’t worry Sam, that’s off the record. And speaking of snow, you surf in some pretty cold waters in the winter?
SH: Ohhhh! This year was cold! This year was so cold, I saw ice in the water, and it was falling off in chunks from Casino Pier and floating around. But it was so good this year. It was the sickest winter ever, and I remember we had surf nonstop for so long. It was butt-ass cold, but it was so fun. You’d surf for thirty minutes, run home, and sit in the hot water until you could feel your toes and fingers again–it was that cold.


ESM: Who were your inspirations growing up and surfing in Jersey?
SH: When I was little, I was inspired by hometown guys like Johnny “A” Anderson, Paul Kelly, Grog, Tony “G” Giordano, and Sean McConkey. But outside of Jersey, Potter was always my favorite; I love the way Pottz surfs. Nowadays, Taylor is the man because he surfs with such style. And you can’t forget about Dean Randazzo who just rips so hard. People don’t know how good he really is until they see him surf, which I recommend doing sometime. Dean rips.

ESM: So you’re a regular homebody, huh?
SH: It’s good to go home and see your friends and just hang out with them. I have some really good friends at home, but actually, most of my friends don’t even surf.


ESM: You were a wrestler in high school?
SH: Yeah, during my senior year at Point Pleasant Beach High I was 22-3, and my three losses were by a point. Our school was the second smallest in the state, but we were a pretty solid team. Our team was the only one from that school to ever make it to the State Sectional Finals.


ESM: How many kids went to your school?
SH: Four hundred total. There were only one hundred four in my graduating class.


ESM: Tell me about helping to coach the wrestling team when you’re home.
SH: Sometimes, I go to the school that I used to attend and go in and wrestle around with the kids. It keeps me in good shape, and sometimes they teach me things I didn't know. Some of those kids are stronger than me; there’s a few really good wrestlers in my old school. In a way, I like helping the kids. I want to make them better people, and I know that sounds corny.


ESM: So do the hometown people show much interest in you being a traveling surfer?
SH: My family and friends are always interested in where I am or what I’m doing. I get a lot of e-mail from people and friends back home, and they are always asking what the surf is like and stuff. At home, there’s some people that just don’t seem to care, but the townspeople who know me are always interested in what I’m doing. The others could care less where I am or where I’ve been. If I said I was in Hawaii, they’re the type of people that think I went and studied the Pearl Harbor Memorial and sunbathed in Waikiki for two months or went over for the Aloha Bowl.


ESM: So you don’t mind dealing with people?
SH: I’d like to say that I get along with most everybody; I definitely try to at least. I like to meet different people and hear their stories about various happenings. My parents own two restaurants at home, “The Crab’s Claw Inn” and “The Ark,” so I’ve been goin’ in there with my parents and have watched them work for years. They’re definitely good at socializing with everybody, so I tried to learn a few tricks of the trade. But I’ll never be as good as my parents with people.

ESM: What are your plans for the next few months?
SH: I’m in Hawaii until the end of April or beginning of May, and then I’m going home. I’m getting anxious for our annual Barbados trip in May, and then I’ll be focusing on some WQS events through the summer. I don’t want to be in California all summer, so I’m trying to look into some trips, maybe Puerto in August, or if anyone needs someone to go, give me a call.

Post Script: Two days after this interview was received by ESM, Sam bounced off the reef at Pipe during a morning session in 6-8 foot surf. The injury required a short trip to the hospital, but fortunately the only treatment required was eight stitches to his left knee. True to form, Sam was told to stay off the leg for about a month, but he was back in the water after a week or so.

ESM: What was going through your mind when you hit the reef?
SH: Nothing. I was just focusing on holding my breath, but as I was paddling back out, it did begin to throb a little bit.